reduced Syria to a province of their empire. The kingdom of Armenia itself, with those of Pontus, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, soon shared the same fate.

GOVERNMENT.

PTOLEMY PHILOMETOR and PTOLEMY PHYSCON, both minors at their father's decease. Philometor, at the age of six, was declared successor to the crown of Egypt, under the guardianship of his mother, Cleopatra. She had the conduct of the regency during eight years; but after her death the young king was dethroned, and his brother Physcon was declared sovereign. Physcon, who assumed the name of Euergetes II., was expelled by Antiochus, who placed Philometor on the throne. The two brothers were then persuaded to reign in conjunction. They did not, however, live in concord, and Physcon dethroned his brother. The latter proceeded to Rome in a mean garb, and with a few attendants, in order to excite compassion; and representing his wrongs before the senate, they deputed two of their body to conduct him back and restore him. They accommodated the difference by decreeing the possession of Egypt to Philometer, and that of Lybia and Cyrene to Physcon. The latter, afterwards, by a journey to Rome, obtained a decree for the addition of Cyprus to his share, which island had before been common to the brothers. Philometor, not choosing to acquiesce in the decree which deprived him of his share of Cyprus, opposed his brother with an armed force in the island, and took him prisoner. In this case he displayed a truly fraternal spirit, and not only pardoned the hostility, but restored to him Lybia and Cyrene, which he had lost, and added some territories in lieu of Cyprus. After this, Philometor was engaged in a contest with Alexander Balas, in which he lost his life, in the year B. C. 145. Philometor is highly extolled by historians, both for his benevolence and clemency. By his wife and sister, Cleopatra, he left a son and two daughters.

Upon the death of Philometor, Physcon prepared to assert his claim to the succession. By the mediation of the Roman ambassador, an accommodation was effected, on condition that Physcon should marry Cleopatra, and reign jointly with her, while her son should be considered as heir to the throne. Physcon, however, murdered the son on the very day of the nuptials; and the remainder of the reign is represented by historians as one of the most sanguinary that ever afflicted the human race. He so depopulated Alexandria by his bloody executions that he was obliged to invite strangers from all parts to re-people it. It would disgust the reader to mention but a small portion of the cruel acts

which he perpetrated. He lived the scourge of the human race, and the curse of his own people, till the year B.C. 117. Tyrant as he was, he had the reputation of being a great patron and promoter of learning, and even such a proficient in letters as to have obtained the title of Ptolemy the Philologist. He enriched the Alexandrian library with a great number of books, collected at a vast expense; and himself composed an historical work, regarded as a commentary on Homer.

PTOLEMY, sirnamed LATHYRUS, from an excrescence on his nose, succeeded his father, Physcon, as king of Egypt. He had no sooner ascended the throne, than his mother, Cleopatra, who reigned conjointly with him, expelled him from Cyprus, and placed the crown on the head of his brother, Ptolemy Alexander, her favourite son. Lathyrus, banished from Egypt, became king of Cyprus; and soon after he appeared at the head of a large army, to make war against Alexander Jannæus, king of Judea, through whose assistance and intrigue he had been expelled by Cleopatra. The Jewish monarch was conquered, and fifty thousand of his men were left on the field of battle. Lathyrus, after he had exercised the greatest cruelty upon the Jews, and made vain attempts to recover the kingdom of Egypt, retired to Cyprus till the death of his brother Alexander restored him to his native dominions. Some of the cities of Egypt refused to acknowledge him as their sovereign; and Thebes, for its obstinacy, was closely besieged for three successive years, and from a powerful and populous city, it was reduced to ruins. In the latter part of his reign Lathyrus was called upon to assist the Romans with a navy, for the conquest of Athens; but Lucullus, who had been sent to obtain the desired supply, though received with kingly honours, was dismissed with evasive and unsatisfactory answers, and the monarch refused to part with troops which he deemed necessary to preserve the peace of his kingdom. Lathyrus died 81 years before the Christian era, after a reign of thirty-five years since the death of his father, Physcon, eleven of which he had passed with his mother, Cleopatra, on the Egyptian throne, eighteen in Cyprus, and seven after his mother's death. He was succeeded by his only daughter, Cleopatra, whom Alexander, the son of Ptolemy Alexander, by means of the dictator Sylla, soon after married and murdered.

ALEXANDER I., king of Egypt, the son of Ptolemy Physcon, reigned conjointly with his mother, Cleopatra, for eighteen years, till finding, or pretending, that she was conspiring against him, he put her to death B. C. 106, whereupon the people expelled the parricide, and he was slain that same year at Cyprus.

PTOLEMY APION, a natural son of Ptolemy Physcot, who was made king of Cyrene, where he reigned twenty years,

money when expelled from his kingdom. Auletes died four years after his restoration, about five years before the Christian era. He left two sons and two daughters, and by his will ordered the eldest of his sons to marry the eldest of his sisters, and to ascend with her the vacant throne. As these children were young, the dying monarch recommended them to the protection and paternal care of the Romans, and accordingly Pompey the Great was appointed by the senate to be their patron and their guardian. Their reign was as turbulent as that of their predecessors, and it is remarkable for no uncommon event, only we may observe that the young queen was the Cleopatra who soon after became so celebrated as being the mistress of Julius Cæsar, the wife of Mark Antony, and the last of the Egyptian monarchs of the family of Langus.

BERENICE, daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, king of Egypt, succeeded her father before his death. This banished prince implored the assistance of the Romans, and Pompey restored him. Berenice, to support herself on the throne, allured a prince, whose name was Seleucus, descended from the kings of Syria, and admitted him to her nuptial bed, and to her sceptre. She was soon weary of him, and put him to death. She next cast her eye on Archelaus, who married her, and put himself at the head of her troops to repulse the Romans. He was killed in battle. Ptolemy returned to Alexandria, and put his rebellious daughter Berenice to death.

PTOLEMY DIONYSIUS or BACCHUS, king of Egypt, son of Auletes, ascended the throne with his sister Cleopatra, whom he married, according to the will of his father. Pompey the Great, who had been his guardian, fled into Egypt after his defeat at Pharsalia, and was murdered by him. Ptolemy, who was no more faithful to Cæsar, than he had been to his rival, was drowned in the Nile, after being defeated by the Romans, B. C. 46.

ARCHELAUS, who married Berenice, and made himself king of Egypt; a dignity he enjoyed only six months, as he was killed by the soldiers of Gabinius, B.C. 56. He had been made priest of Comana by Pompey.

We shall now take notice of the Jews of this period; after which we return to the Syrians, &c.

SIMON MACCABEUS, surnamed Thassi, the son of Mattathias, and brother of Judas and Jonathan, was chief prince and pontiff of the Jews. He gave proofs of his valour in the battle between Judas Maccabæus and Nicator, (2 Macc. viii. 22, 23.) and on another occasion, (2 Macc. xiv. 17.) In consequence of his judgment and valour, which were signalized in a variety of ways, he was made governor of the whole coast

of the Mediterranean sea, from Tyre to the frontiers of Egypt. His administration was singularly prudent, and it was his great object to render his nation prosperous and secure. With this view, he made a harbour at Jaffa, for the improvement of the trade of the Jews, and he extended the limits of his country; he also renewed the alliance of the Jews with the Romans and the Lacedæmonians; and the whole Jewish nation acknowledged their obligations to him by various tokens of respect, and particularly by recompensing him and his children as perpetual prince and pontiff of their nation. When Demetrius Nicator was taken by the Parthians, Antiochus, King of Syria, and brother of Demetrius, applied to him for succour against Tryphon, and not only confirmed the grants of his brother, but allowed him the privilege of coining money, remitted to him all debts owing to the kings of Syria, and declared Jerusalem to be a free and an holy city. Simon sent him men and money to assist him in the reduction of Dorea, in which Tryphon had shut himself up. But Antiochus would not receive him, nor would he confirm the articles of his treaty with Simon. He also demanded the surrender of several places, and a thousand talents of silver, threatening, in case of refusal, to enter Judea with troops, and to treat him as an enemy. Simon disregarded his threats; nevertheless he offered a hundred talents for the cities of Joppa and Gazara, of which he had made himself master, because they occasioned great calamities to his country. The army of Antiochus, which he had sent to the coast of the Mediterranean, was defeated by John Hyrcan, the son of Simon; and three years afterwards, Simon visited the cities of Judea, and came to the castle of Docus or Dagon, where his son-in-law, Ptolemy, son of Ambubus, resided. But Ptolemy, though he entertained him magnificently, caused him in the midst of the entertainment, to be massacred, together with his two sons Mattathias and Judas, hoping thus to become master of Jerusalem, and of the whole country. But John Hyrcan arrived at Jerusalem to prevent it.

JOHN HYRCAN I., high-priest and prince of the Jews, was the son of Simon Maccabæus. On the invasion of Judea by the Syrian governor, in the year B. C. 139, he and his brother Judas led a body of Troops, who entirely defeated the invaders. After his father's murder, by his son-in-law, Ptolemy, he went to Jerusalem, where he was declared Simon's successor in the priesthood and sovereignty. This was in the year B. C. 135. Antiochus Sidetes laid siege to Jerusalem, but was induced to grant a peace to the Jews, upon condition of their dismantling the city, and the payment of a large sum of money. Hyrcan afterwards made an alliance of friendship with Antiochus, and accompanied him in his war against Phraates, king of Parthia, in which he did much service, and after the death

of Antiochus, he took advantage of the civil dissensions prevailing in Syria, and made himself master of several neighbouring towns, and entirely shook off all dependance on that crown. He afterwards became the aggressor, and made considerable conquests for his country, till at length he extended his dominion not only over Palestine, but also over the provinces of Samaria and Galilee, and the Jewish state appeared with greater lustre than under any of his predecessors since the captivity. He was zealous for his religion, and attached to the sect of Pharisees, but a quarrel with that haughty and powerful body embittered the latter period of his life. He died in the year B. C. 107. and was succeeded by his son Aristobulus.

ARISTOBULUS I., the son of John Hyrcan, was the first king of the Jews after their return from the captivity. He was also the first who united the royal and pontifical dignities. He reigned little more than a year, and died B. C. 105.

ALEXANDER JANNÆUS, king and high priest of the Jews; a bloody tyrant, who after a complete victory obtained over his subjects, had the barbarity, not only to crucify 800 of them in one day, at Jerusalem, but to increase their dying agonies in that state, by murdering their wives and children in their sight, while he, with his wives and concubines, at their banquet, beheld the horrid scene; notwithstanding which, he was suffered to die in peace, B. C. 79.

ALEXANDRA, queen of Judea, the widow and successor of Alexander Jannæus; a wise and virtuous princess, who, contrary to the example of her husband, studied to please her subjects, and preserved peace and prosperity during her reign, which lasted only seven years, she died in the seventy-third year of her age, B. C. 70.

HYRCAN II., high-priest and king of the Jews, was eldest son of Alexander Jannæus; but at the death of his father, his mother, Alexandra, took the reigns of government, and allotted to him the succession of the priesthood. On her decease, Hyrcan was declared king, but being of a quiet and unenterprising disposition, he was quickly dispossessed of his dignities, and reduced to a private station. He was afterwards persuaded by Antipater to accompany him to Arabia, in the vain hope of obtaining the assistance of king Aretas to restore him. The Romans, gained over by Aristobulus, the brother of Hyrcan, defeated Aretas, and the two brothers at length pleaded their cause in person before Pompey. In the year B. Ć. 63, Hyrcan was restored to his pontifical office, with the title of prince, but he was divested of royalty, and made tributary to Pompey. He lived several years under the protection of the Romans; and was very much favoured by Cæsar, but at length he fell into the hands of his nephew, Antigonus, who cut off his ears, in order to incapacitate him for the priesthood. He was then

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